Have you had those? A friend who changed the course of your life?
I have had many, but one has been standing out.
When I was a young dancer, I was dancing a show at the University of Arizona as a Jazz dancer. I liked Jazz and had planned on making it my focus.
A man who was older than I was teaching ballet before going off and joining the Conneticut Ballet. His name was Philip Shaffear. I did not know him and only saw him in passing. He caught me at that show and told me, ____________, if you will come and study ballet with me, I will not make you go the speed of the class, I will move you along, you don't have to pay for it, and I will teach you the basics you still need to be a very good dancer." I was resisting Ballet very hard at the time. He made it so that I could not say no.
I went to that class and he moved me along at the speed my ability would allow, giving me much special attention. He even studied Jazz with me when I dared him to, just to see if he would try.
I came away from those classes and that time with an ability that would not only have me loving ballet but the technique to do anything I wanted to do in dance. Through discipline comes freedom. I had the chops to have that freedom and continued to study after he was gone.

Had he not sought me out, a young and arrogant Jazz dancer doing my thing and not focusing on what I was advised to forus on, I would not have been the "world class dancer," the Village Voice called me.
He had no prompting, he did not know me, he made not a dime out of me and he took time to make sure I was challanged and stayed interested. He took time to MAKE a dancer out of a "natural."
He changed the course of my life. A bit after that I was teaching there myself and MGM called me after a scout saw me dancing ~ ballet!

He is someone I always thank in print.

Do you have a person who changed the course of your life?

dancer

I cannot point just to 1 person exclusively. Changing course of my life --that sounds cataclysmic! You are lucky.
Different sides of me have been affected by having a deep long-term friendships with a number of loved ones so far. I do have some mentors, but none changed the course of my life/career.

Well, let me think, here. My partner. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have tried /seen many of the things that I have so far. Or shall I say, I would have seen different things in life if I didn't know him.

I think, Orchid, that having a partner who helps you open up to new things is a very lucky thing. I don't think it's always the case...
dancer

I would have to say Mary Rosenblum, when I began writing seriously she was my teacher, so patient and beyond helpful and the reason I began editing for other writers...I guess she could be calld my mentor.

My university tutors...whoever at the time.They all opened doors to knowledge.Made it possible for me to research and do so systematicly.Those who brought poets and authors to lectures and let me absorb their work in a close way.I cannot name one because the whole experience is part of my identity.
Mountain ash